Pontiac Firm Acquired 30 Ford GT Chassis and Plans to Use Them
Not that Pontiac. I know; I was excited about that too. However, The small team out of Pontiac, Michigan, GT1, got its hands on 30 2006 Ford GT chassis. They have been in storage all this time, waiting for their moment. Well, that moment has finally come. 30 GT1s are coming for us, but don’t expect to see any blaze past on the highway. These 1,500-hp beasts will be confined to the track.
What engine will these reborn Ford GT40s have?
The 1,500-hp GT1 gets its life from a twin-turbocharged 7.0-L V8 Roush Yates RY45TT. The Matech Ford GT1 of 2009 partnered with Ford engine master Roush Yates. This led the GT1 program team to the Roush Yates RY45, arguably the best and most advanced high-displacement aluminum block engine ever put in a Ford chassis. There are miles of technical jargon that GT1 uses to explain why this engine might as well power the next Voyager mission. The takeaway is this turbocharged V8 makes more power than the Tennessee Valley Authority.
According to Road and Track, the GT1 is a true blue Ford GT chassis, getting quite the series of upgrades, if you can believe it. The Roush 7.0-L V8 will live beneath a shell of carbon fiber. The GT1 body looks more like the next batmobile than it does a factory racer. This black-on-black racer is punctuated by a wildly huge spoiler to keep things glued.
Only 30 chassis, only 30 cars
Because the team only got 30 chassis, production will be confined to only 30 examples. This will undoubtedly make demand silly. Not only is the GT1 built on a proper GT40 chassis using proper racing bits, but it also comes on the heels of the end of the Ford GT production. If that’s not chumming the water, I don’t know what will.
How much will the GT1 cost?
We still are unclear on the price. The GT1 website has launched a configurator for the track car. This suggests that, although there is certainly a base starting price, the prices can almost certainly span a great scale depending on the build.
GT1 promises a highly-configurable car. Not only are they plenty of options to choose from, but there is also a comments box in the order portal where buyers can request more specific features and ask questions to a support team.
When will the GT1s be ready to roll
The configurator is live, and, as of this writing, there seem to still be cars available. The team says buyers should expect builds to take anywhere from 8-10 months. I guess we know what we are asking Santa for next year.
